Sunday in Nampula

On our first Sunday in Mozambique we went to church with Billy and Sara in Nampula. For Lee and the girls it was their first time worshipping in an African church. The girls were a bit unsure about things but did really well. It is so difficult not knowing any of the language. We couldn’t even say, “Hi, how are you?” We just smiled and stood there! Here are some pictures of the church and of the crazy-muddy-busy road from the church to mission house.

The creative church decorations

After church the Turner’s took us to a RESTAURANT! Yes….that’s right! We ate cheese pizza and Zambezi chicken and fries! It was outside at a hotel and the restaurant part looked like Disney. We were so excited!

The caged monkey

The playground and the pool!

Tracy

Home at last!

We are in our new home and we finally have Internet!!!!! Only 8 days….not too bad for Africa. I have written many blog posts while waiting for Internet so I will just post as I can for the next several days.

Tracy

Nampula Arrival

Culture shock hit us immediately in the face. We stepped off the plane (it is one of those planes where the door has the stairs on it and it folds out and you walk off onto the concrete) and then walked behind everyone else towards the building. We walked into a small dark room where we went through the nice immigration man’s station and then on to the “not as friendly” customs men’s station. They detained us for a short time. Then our new friends, Billy and Sara Turner and the journey-girls Sally and Jessica, came in and helped Lee talk to them. They let us through after Lee showed them a letter on his laptop stating we were really moving to Africa.  They thought we were bringing all this in to sell.

We loaded up in the trucks and headed to the mission house. This is the house that we will live in after language school and it was really cool to get to see it and stay in it for a while. We are all staying together in the house with the Turners until they take Sally, Jessica, and all of us McDaniel’s to Quelimane on Monday.



This beautiful Bouganvilla vine grows beind the house.



Temporary resting place for our trunks

It was Thursday at 1:30pm when we arrived in Nampula. I can’t remember too much from that day or Friday. Jetlag hit me hard! Shock hit hard, too. All of us were a bit out of sorts. Thursday night all of us were very ready for bed by 8:30, yet all up at 1:00am. Meghan and Lee went back to sleep within an hour, Emma, Lilly and I were up for several hours. All of us were hungry and not sleepy.

On Friday, Billy and Sara took Lee, Meghan, and I to get a few basic cooking supplies to take with us to Quelimane. We went to 2 different stores to purchase them. I wish I had taken my camera so you could see what they looked like. Think the size of PetSmart, but looked like Costco or Sam’s on the inside. We found so many things that we thought we could not get. They had pasta, canned veggies (even Baked Beans), toilet paper, and cocoa powder! They even had coffee, which was almost $90 for about 2 lbs. (We will not be buying that!) Friday night we all slept better. I left a small snack for the girls in their room so that they could eat a bite in their room if they were starving and then quickly lay back down and hopefully go back to sleep. It worked!

Lee and Tracy's room

Meghan, Emma, and Lilly's room

Saturday morning we took the girls out to shop a bit. Emma and Meghan got some cute flip-flops at a tiny roadside shop and then we went to some fabric stores. I am excited to get to make things with all of the beautiful fabrics that you can find here. Our last stop of the morning was at a very busy shop that is similar to Dollar General. After that we had had all the culturing we could handle for the day!

There are 2 great things about the house in Nampula, a tiny kitten that the Turners have nursed back from the brink of death, named “Rickets”, and an awesome tree house.

Emma, Lilly, and journey-girl Jessica

"Rickets" the cat

Tracy

The Migration Continues

We arrived in Johannesburg after bouncing up and down over the Atlantic with little trouble. When we got to baggage claim our trunks were nowhere to be found. Lee stood in line at an information desk to find out that they had put the trunks in a back corner…not sure why. We loaded those onto baggage carts and headed on our way to find the IMB personnel sent to receive us. They loaded our bags and took us to McDonald’s for dinner. (It tasted just like in the US.) We spent the night at the Baptist Guesthouse.

Our internal clocks proved to be messed up because about 1am, 4 of us woke up for several hours. Thursday morning we had to shuffle some of our baggage before heading back to the airport for our second flight.

We were a bit nervous because we knew that they would be charging us baggage fees based on weight and didn’t know about the carry-ons. We ended up paying about what we expected and they didn’t weigh our carry-ons.  :)

The plane was tiny, but it was a fun flight! We were in the very back and there were several empty seats. That way we were able to all look out the windows and enjoy God’s creation. Africa is very beautiful!



Tracy

The Migration Begins

On the 3rd of January we loaded up the Wise Chapel UMC church van and set out for the Atlanta airport. This is Lee’s family’s church and they were so gracious to let us use it to get all of our things to the airport in one vehicle. The pastor and his wife were so kind to drive us so that no grandparents had to say good-bye in the airport. (My request…well…demand.)

We all had a bad case of the butterflies! We were excited to finally be leaving, yet apprehensive about the journey. We checked 16 footlockers and carried on 10 pieces. It was a sight! We located the Chick-fil-a for a last American meal and then went to our gate for boarding.

Our plane was nice. It seemed to be very new. The girls were so excited about the in-flight entertainment. So many movies to choose from!! We settled in with about 25 minutes until our scheduled departure. It was torture for them to have to sit at the gate and look at the screen for an extra hour while maintenance worked on an air conditioner. Finally we took off! It was about 8:15 pm est. We made several attempts to all go to sleep….to no avail! After many hours we were all able to nap. Lee and I slept about 2 hours, Meghan and Lilly about 4 hours, but Emma was only able to get about 1 hour of sleep. The flight was very bumpy. The flight attendant said that this flight is always bumpy. The funny thing was every time we “dropped” the children on the plane would say, “woo”. It made me laugh.

Tracy

To Alabama

We then spent about one week with Lee’s parents in Alabama. Here are some pictures of Christmas, family, and the packing!

Perfect Christmas Gifts

A PUPPY!

Sweet Dot!



Going to visit Tracy's Nanna

All of our trunks packed and ready to weigh

Using a "calf scale" to weigh the trunks

We took the trunks to the "feed mill" to use their certified scales

All weighing under 70 pounds



Meghan recording the trunk weights

We did it!  Everything packed and ready to go.





Tracy



Christmas

We spent about a week with my parents in Georgia during our break before leaving the country. It was very special to celebrate Christmas there. Here are some of our memories.

We also worked on getting all of our things packed into our trunks. We gave away more stuff and left a huge pile to donate. Imagine that…..more things to get rid of!!!

It was bitter sweet! We were ready to get on with our journey but so sad to say good-bye! We love you Grandma and Granddaddy!



Tracy